Chris Hansen’s blog

Thursday breezed into town from Manchester to get his student visa for the United States. I met him at Euston Station (which has changed quite a bit even since August 2008, the last time I was there) and we went to Belgo at Kingsway (where HWMBO and I ate last week…). I had a burger, and had chicken. I had my usual beer, a Hoegaarten, and he had a cherry beer which, frankly, was a bit sweet for me.

Now, what to do? We shopped, of course. At Covent Garden, I bought a bow tie which shows four different patterns depending on how you tie it. All four are pretty bright. I think it’s spiffy but we’ll see what the general public thinks when I wear it. wanted to buy a Jack-in-the-Box toy for his teacher’s child, but everyone was out after Christmas (this would be an antique one, I think). The closest we got is a J-i-t-B Christmas tree ornament, not quite what he had in mind.

Then we decided to go off to Canary Wharf so that could check into his hotel. When we got off the Jubilee Line there, it was cloudy but clear under the clouds. By the time we got to the hotel and looked out the window, the fog had rolled in and you could hardly see your hand in front of your face. Lovely hotel, though–but lousy pictures on the walls.

We then went off to the Passport Photographer on Oxford Street west of Bond Street to get his photos taken for the visa. I’ve used them for my last two passports and they are really good, very quick, and relatively cheap. What to do then?

Go to a pub, of course. We ended up first at the Admiral Duncan, where had two frou-frou drinks and I had two bourbons-and-Diet-Cokes. Not much interesting action there, and we still had an hour and a half to go before we met HWMBO at Queensway to go to dinner. What to do?

Go to Ku bar, Chinatown’s only gay pub, for another drink. Another bourbon-and-Diet-Coke for me. No Chinese other than were there, as it’s kind of dangerous to go into a gay pub in Chinatown when you’re Chinese–after all, your auntie may see you in there while she’s going to the store for some bak choi.

Off to Queensway to medet HWMBO and go to Kiasu, our current favourite Singaporean restaurant. Well, they must have changed chefs because, when my beef rendang arrived, the beef was in huge chunks (one bigger than my BlackBerry) and it hadn’t been simmered long enough, thus it was stringy rather than meltingly tender. Sigh. We will give them another chance in a few months to see whether the old chef has come back, or the new chef has finally gotten his act together.

So, we’re finished with dinner. What to do?

Go to a pub, of course. wanted to go back to Ku bar, so we did. HWMBO and I each had a bottle of Bulmer’s Perry, and it was quite good–rather dry. The sound system was absolutely deafening by then, and a strange gentleman sitting next to us was acting out a bit and was duly ejected. We finished our drinks and wended our way homeward. I was bushed. , on the other hand, was still fresh as a daisy and wanted to par-tay a bit more.

This morning dawned cloudy and cool. But today the visitor to London I was meeting for lunch was the famous Dr. David Cornell, the urologist who is the head of The Circumcision Center™ in Atlanta, GA. I met Dr. David online as moderator of various email groups, but we have always missed each other here. Luckily we connected this time. Dr. David is a couple of months younger than I am, and is just the most delightful lunch companion. We discussed the state of the economy, medical care here in the UK vs. that in the US, and so on and so forth. We went to Eathai Thai restaurant on Wardour Street. What a great restaurant! I even tried calamari, which being seafood doesn’t normally appeal, and it was really good. The green Thai curry was absolutely great. The pea aubergines (eggplant) were tender, rather than hard little balls that pop in your mouth.

We parted at Piccadilly Circus, and I decided to go out to Westfield shopping center in West London near the BBC Broadcast Center at White City. It has just opened within the past few months, so I thought it was worth a trip. It was really a worthwhile trip. It reminds me of Vivocity in Singapore, and is better designed than Bluewater in Kent, and is certainly easier to get to. Bakerloo to Oxford Circus, then Central Line to White City, take a left outside the station and walk for 250 yards. It’s worth another trip (and I will drag HWMBO there shortly). I bought him a belated Christmas/birthday gift, a Sudoku machine, which he loved, and went into Starbucks, but the queue was too long and the seating too crowded. So what to do?

I took the Hammersmith and City Line from the newly-opened Wood Lane station to Aldgate East, and walked to the Beigel Bake on Brick Lane, where I bought a large rye bread (“Don’t cut it!”) and then took the 35 bus home.

, by the way, went to his appointment at the US Fortress^WEmbassy in Mayfair, and got his visa in only a few minutes, which is good, as he was a bit apprehensive about it. He’s off to bring flowers and chocolates to his former cello teacher in Greenwich. We may see him tomorrow before he goes back to Manchester.

This has turned out longer than I thought it would be, but it’s been an interesting couple of days and I thought it would be good to get it down for posterity.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 08:24 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.